BERNARD SCHOENBURG: Deputy chiefs of staff fly under the radar

Friday

Nov 23, 2007 at 12:01 AMNov 23, 2007 at 10:17 PM

A few weeks back, when the Blagojevich administration was trying to put on a full court press to publicize the need for a large-scale state construction program, KRISTIN RICHARDS, a deputy chief of staff to the governor, was among officials who visited the editorial board of The State Journal-Register.

Bernard Schoenburg

A few weeks back, when the Blagojevich administration was trying to put on a full court press to publicize the need for a large-scale state construction program, KRISTIN RICHARDS, a deputy chief of staff to the governor, was among officials who visited the editorial board of The State Journal-Register.

It doesn’t say much for me, perhaps, that I had never heard of Richards. But it may also reflect the fact that the inner offices where Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s staff – even his press staff – works at the Statehouse are generally locked to the public.

So I asked gubernatorial spokeswoman REBECCA RAUSCH later how I had overlooked someone high in the administration, especially someone who lives and works in Springfield. Rausch graciously offered to get me information about several deputy chiefs of staff – two of whom live in Springfield and four in the Chicago area. I also got some other details, including salaries, from the comptroller’s office.

That led to another discovery -- that part or all of the salaries of some deputy chiefs of staff are paid not by the governor’s office, but by other departments under the governor. Is this a way to disguise expenses in order to make it look like the governor is keeping his office costs low?

Rausch responded: “The deputy chiefs work directly with and spend a lot of time with their state agencies. Some of them held previous positions at state agencies before being detailed to the Governor’s office.”

Anyway, the top staff officials in the Blagojevich administration are chief of staff JOHN HARRIS of Chicago and deputy governors SHEILA NIX of Oak Park and LOUANNER PETERS of Springfield.

The deputy chiefs of staff include:

*KRISTIN RICHARDS, 27. She is responsible for agencies and issues involving early childhood through higher education, capital planning, and natural and historical resources. A Belleville native, she has a degree from Millikin University in Decatur and did an internship at the British parliament. She was a Dunn Fellow in the governor’s office and later policy advisor to the governor on environmental, agricultural and economic development issues.

She began with the state Aug. 1, 2002, when George Ryan was still governor. She formerly was a technical manager II in the bureau of organization and management. She is paid $57,996 by IDOT and $49,220 annually by the governor, for a total of $107,216 annually.

*JENNIFER RICKER, 32, of Springfield has responsibilities including intergovernmental affairs, budgetary and legislative issues and tax policy. She previously was chief of staff and director of legislative affairs at the Department of Revenue and a legislative analyst on the staff of House Speaker MICHAEL MADIGAN. She has a degree from the University of Missouri at Columbia, is married and has a son and stepson.

The comptroller’s office reports she is paid as a senior public service administrator in the Department of Revenue. Ricker, who began with the state in mid-1999, makes $110,004 annually.

*STEVE FRENKEL, 38, of Wilmette directs the governor’s energy and environmental policy and oversees the Environmental Protection Agency, departments of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and Agriculture, the Illinois Finance Authority and the Pollution Control Board. Before becoming a deputy chief of staff, he was the governor’s director of policy development and senior policy advisor on environmental issues. He has a master’s degree from the University of California-Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and a bachelor’s from Macalester College in St. Paul. He has been a public radio reporter, community organizer and policy analyst. He began with the state in 2004 and is paid $102,000 annually -- $49,980 from the EPA and $52,020 by the governor’s office.

*BOB GREENLEE, 32, of Chicago is responsible for administrative and infrastructure agencies, including departments of Revenue, Central Management Services, Transportation, the Toll Highway Authority and the Housing Development Authority. He also does revenue estimation and valuation and special projects in public finance. He earlier worked as a lawyer for Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago and was educated at Yale University and the University of Chicago Law School. He makes $120,000 annually and is paid by CMS. He began with the state in late 2003.

*MIREYA HURTADO, 32, of Chicago oversees the Illinois Departments of Labor, Financial and Professional Regulation, and Human Rights, in addition to the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Workers’ Compensation Commission. She also supports the governor’s immigration initiatives, including the New Americans Initiative, a partnership with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights dedicated to assisting eligible applicants to file for naturalization. The program has helped more than 20,000 people, Rausch said.

Hurtado previously was district director for U.S. Rep. LUIS GUTIERREZ of Chicago. Born in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood to Mexican immigrants, she majored in political studies and minored in women’s and gender studies at Williams College. Comptroller’s records show she started in state government in the fall of 2005 and was with the Department of Human Services through April 15. She makes about $95,000 annually, $31,345 from the Department of Labor and about $63,650 from the financial regulation department

*MATTHEW SUMMY, 38, of Chicago, deputy chief of staff for policy, oversees multi-agency policy and program initiatives. He earlier served as deputy director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity; as a vice president with CH Johnson Consulting, a Chicago-based economics and management consulting firm; as senior vice president for the New York City Housing Development Corp.; and as a project planner in the New York City mayor’s office of operations. He has a master’s from New York University and a bachelor’s from the University of Iowa. He is paid $120,000 annually, with a recent paycheck entirely from DCEO.

subhead

State Treasurer ALEXI GIANNOULIAS was named early this month by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of this year’s “40 Under 40,” a list of accomplished folks who have yet to reach middle age.

“The third son of Greek immigrants who founded Chicago’s Broadway Bank and made it one of the top-returning financial institutions in the state, Mr. Giannoulias knows how to look out for himself,” the snippet on the treasurer said (see www.chicagobusiness.com). “He was a top basketball player at Boston University and on a Greek professional team before returning to America to get a law degree from Tulane University and joining the bank staff. Along the way, he found time to help elect U.S. Sen. BARACK OBAMA, D-Ill., who returned the favor when Mr. Giannoulias defeated the party organization’s choice for treasurer in the 2006 Democratic primary.”

“Since taking office, Mr. Giannoulias has extended an olive branch to state Democratic Chairman MICHAEL MADIGAN – and kept his distance from Mr. Madigan’s war with Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Instead, he has concentrated on his office. …”

Congrats.

SUBHEAD’

JUSTIN DeJONG, 28, recently the spokesman for the governor’s office of management and budget, has taken a new job as communications director at the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.

DeJong, a native of Orange City, Iowa, said his parents own small businesses there, so representing a business group, in a sense, brings him “back to my roots.”

DeJong began three years ago with the state as a Chicago-based spokesman for DCEO, later speaking for CMS before moving on to the budget office. His final state salary, paid by CMS, was $75,000 annually.

He said he’s proud of an initiative he helped lead at CMS to reach out to minority, women and small business owners statewide to open the state’s procurement process to entrepreneurs who have not done business with the public sector in the past. The Web presence of that program is at www.sell2.Illinois.gov.

DeJong said the Chicagoland Chamber, headed by JERRY ROPER, has in recent years outsourced its public relations work.

Bernard Schoenburg, political columnist for The State Journal-Register, can be reached at (217) 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.